 Tearing/Ripping Noise in Ear from Popping Ears
I have been suffering from multiple ear issues, including inner ear migraines, fluctuating hearing loss, and eustachian tube dysfunction, all of which I believe are being caused by abnormally tight muscles in the head, neck, and jaw. Anyway, manipulating my eustachian tubes through the act of swallowing, yawning, or intentional ear clearing (non- Valsava, gentle procedures) has caused problems for my hearing health recently.
I can voluntarily open my eustachian tubes and pop my ears if I move my jaw as if I am about to yawn, and sometimes I do it out of habit especially because the sense of negative pressure in my middle ear can feel terribly unpleasant. Tonight I did so just before yawning; usually, this makes a series of high pitched clicking/ popping noises in both of my ears (sometimes it's very loud and forceful depending on how I popped my ears), and sometimes I get the sensation that my eardrum bulges outward if I follow through with the yawn (air going up the tube?).
However when I did it this time, without completing the yawn, stretching my jaw felt like my ET's expanded too much and I instead heard a light ripping or tearing noise. Immediately afterward my hearing was slightly diminished and I had some new tinnitus tones. Fortunately, there was no pain or vertigo, but I did taste something strange running down the back of my throat, that I hope was coming from the right ET.
Does this sound like an injury to the ET, or something more serious like a tympanic membrane perforation or inner ear injury? I'm a little bit nervous about the whole thing.
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